Spain Stay No. 1 in FIFA Women's Ranking as Denmark Return to Top 10 and Malawi Climb 49 Places
Spain have strengthened their hold on the top spot in the latest FIFA Women's World Ranking, released on October 20. Denmark have returned to the top 10. Malawi made the biggest jump by rising 49 places to 104th.
Spain, the reigning world champions, have 2,121.50 points. They opened a lead of 79.12 points over second-placed USA after taking four points from a double-header away to the Americans. They won one game and drew the other 2-2. Germany retain third place after winning both of their home friendlies. England remain fourth on 2,025.47 points. Japan, France and Brazil follow them. Sweden and Canada complete the top nine.
Denmark are the only change inside the top 10. They climbed two places to 10th after taking a win and a draw away to Canada. They drew 1-1 in Montreal and won 4-3 in Toronto. It is their first appearance in the top 10 since August 2010, a gap of 16 years. The Netherlands drop to 11th and North Korea to 12th.
Malawi are the biggest story of the update. They reached the final of the 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations, which was held in July and August. They beat Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana and Algeria on the way. Malawi also qualified for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, which will be their first appearance at the tournament. They also won matches in the Olympic qualifiers. All of this earned them 158.44 points, the biggest gain of any team in this ranking. That is also a record points total for Malawi.
Nigeria were the biggest losers on points. They dropped seven places to 43rd after losing 83.54 points. Slovenia reached a national high of 36th.
The ranking took 183 international matches into account. They included World Cup qualifiers in Europe and Africa, Olympic preliminaries and friendlies. Algeria and Morocco played the most matches, with ten each. FIFA will publish the next edition of the Women's World Ranking on December 7, 2026.